Jaakunakunshu

Roman's name is Japanese: 浪満 in kanji. I don't believe it's a particularly common reading of either character, though, so I would assume it was chosen specifically to sound like the English word. Similar to Akua, whose shikona is pretty meaningless in Japanese but was chosen to sound similar to the word aqua, since the main attraction of his hometown is the Aqua World aquarium. Side note about Roman, he was suspended for a basho last year over an incident where he supposedly beat up one of the rookies at his stable and caused him to retire, but apparently Roman was allowed to stay on the banzuke rather than being forced to retire himself (unlikely he would have been able to had he or the other person involved been more notable).

Indeed, I think there's no chance they test anyone for coronavirus if they can at all avoid it. If they were prepared to do that, they would have made it clearer (or clear at all) what happens to records and such if the basho is cancelled midway. The fact that they haven't means the plan is to do everything possible to make sure the basho doesn't get cancelled, and testing people would risk them getting a result they didn't want to hear.

All I see is the shadow of Asanoyama falling.

Yeah, as tempting as it is to start with the conspiracy theories, I really do think it's a bad call made by an inadequate judging system. If Minato oyakata was convinced he saw Tochinoshin's foot go out, and no one was in a position to contradict him (although surely the gyoji had a clear view as well), then that's the decision they were going to go with. It's silly that all these shimpan were involved in the discussion when they had no idea what the situation was, and silly that the people who had access to the video replay were allowed to just throw up their hands and say they weren't sure. The other shimpan should have either pressed for more details (like asking the video booth guys 'did you see sand fly up with Tochinoshin's foot?') or been allowed to see replays for themselves.

Ah, I see what you mean. And I totally agree, best comparison is in the reactions of the competitors. If a call like that had happened in football or tennis or something, they would have argued or complained, but even with as much on the line as he had, Tochinoshin knew there was nothing he could do but bow his head and walk to the back. For us fans, though, the emotion of watching what seems to be a clear cut travesty of a call is just as painful as it would be in other sports, especially given how people have been rooting for Tochinoshin to get back to ozeki.

You're more entertaining than the commentators, though (well maybe except when Murray and John are on).

Really? I don't think people being upset over bad referee calls is unusual in other sports.

Would you still say that based on the picture above showing the lack of a sand mark after Tochinoshin's foot moves but before Asanoyama lands? Because that seems pretty conclusive to me.

11. Kotoshogiku

9. Mitakeumi

8. Mitakeumi

7. Ichinojo

6. Ichinojo

5. Ichinojo

4. Takayasu

Well, with Hakuho out, I'm changing my picks to: 1. Takayasu 2. Kakuryu

1. Goeido 2. Kakuryu

Ichinojo

Ever wanted to be in charge of your own sumo stable? In Heya Boss, you can. Heya Boss lets you have your own group of rikishi and challenges you to guide them to the top of professional sumo. Signups In order to join Heya Boss, just tell me what your heya/oyakata name will be (if this is the same as your board name, it will probably make things easier, but this is not required). Once enough heya have been established, I will generate the rikishi that will start in our sumo world and hold a draft in order to determine who goes to which stable. Heya Boss basho will be held between the real life basho, so the first Heya Boss basho will be the Natsu basho in June. This is to ensure that Heya Boss does not conflict with most sumo games that are played during the real life basho. Most of the actual gameplay will be automated outside some simple daily decisions that need to be made during the basho. The spoiler tag below contains the game rules which should hopefully explain everything about how the game actually works. Any other questions about the game, let me know - I'll add it to the overall rules if it turns out I've missed something. Otherwise, hoping you're interested in playing

Mitakeumi Ichinojo

Kaisei Mitakeumi Chiyotairyu Tochinoshin

Chiyotairyu?

Tochiozan Endo Kaisei Ichinojo

Won't be the same without you (although I'm sure we'll get by). I've been catching up on everything since 2012 on your channel. Enjoy Tokyo :)

I did too, though I suspect that was picking with my heart rather than my brain. Probably did terribly again this time but in my defence this game is haaaaaard.